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" No matter our background, we all have crazy families. "
Kevin Kwan
Background
Families
Our
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" A lot of the people who live the lives of 'Crazy Rich Asians' don't see the humour of their lives simply because this is just who they are. Even though I'm from that part of the world, I'm no longer part of that world. "
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" I moved to New York and went to art school at Parsons School of Design. Became a photographer. Became a creative consultant. "
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" All Americans knew was 'The Joy Luck Club' and children of dry cleaners trying to assimilate. The Asia that I was seeing was a world of people who are incredibly sophisticated, and I wanted to represent that side. "
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" My books are comedies; I want to take my readers on a jet-setting romp, make them laugh, make them swoon at the beautiful settings, and maybe even make their mouths water at all the food. "
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" I sort of wanted to reveal this other side of Asia: Southeast Asia, where the Chinese have been wealthy for generations and have different ways of relating to money. I wanted to sort of reveal this world to readers. "
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World
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" In order for me to write a scene, it's very important for me to see and experience everything with my own eyes, so yes, I was able to visit some remarkable houses and destinations while I was in China. "
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Important
Experience
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" I live in New York, but I still get the village gossip. My apartment is a crash pad for so many Singaporean cousins and friends. "
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Live
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" They say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but there's such a thing as believability when you're writing a novel. "
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Writing
Truth Is
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" I remembered that my grandfather had spent his teenage years in Shanghai and that he went back after he finished medical school to work there in a hospital. So I went back into my family archives and was able to find out his exact address; it was a street that was in the French Concession. "
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Family
Work
School
" I grew up in a household where there were really, really strong matriarchal characters. I think that's true of many Asian households. People tend to think of Asia as a misogynistic society or a society where men rule. At least in my experience, the women rule the household; the women rule the social scene. The men often become very useless. "
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Women
Strong
Society
" It would have been amazing to have been a student at Oxford during that golden moment in the 1910s, rubbing elbows with the likes of Aldous Huxley and T.E. Lawrence, before World War I shattered everything forever. "
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War
Amazing
Moment
" Living in the West, you see how there's only two versions of how Asian men are supposed to be. Either they're very nice, yuppie husbands with children in ads, or they're IT geeks. "
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Children
You
Living
" I grew up with a posh English accent, and all my aunts sounded as if they came out of a Merchant Ivory movie. "
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English
Accent
Posh
" I was born in Singapore, and I lived there until I was 12. I had a very fortunate upbringing. "
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Singapore
Born
Had
" I know an elderly society matron in Singapore who would rather walk in the scorching sun for blocks on end rather than have her chauffeur drive into the Central Business District at peak hour and pay the $1.50 surcharge. "
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Walk
Business
Drive
" I wanted to explore what all this new-found wealth means for the different generations of Chinese who have to live together in this place that is transforming at warp speed into the richest country on the planet. "
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Wealth
Together
Speed
" I've lived in New York City for over twenty years now, and every single day is like a new adventure. At this point, there are many places I'd love to visit, but I can't imagine living anywhere else on the planet. "
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Love
Day
City
" The idea of Asian ascendancy has entered public culture. "
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Public
Ascendancy
Asian
" I'm naturally a shy, quiet person. "
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Quiet
Shy
Naturally
" The most important thing to keep in mind is the incredible diversity of talent that's out there - there are so many great actors from all over Asia, from Singapore and Hong Kong to the Philippines and Mainland China, not to mention many great Asian-American actors who are eager for fun and challenging roles. "
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Diversity
Talent
Great
" There's so much emphasis on the economic might of China, of Southeast Asia, Asian 'Super Tigers' and things like that. But nobody was really looking from the perspective of a family story, of these individuals. "
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Story
Perspective
Looking
" 'China rich' is the new 'crazy rich.' It's a new level of outrageousness. It comes from this world where overnight fortunes have been made, but the fortunes are so ginormous compared to anything we've ever seen in the history of the world. "
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Rich
China
World
" I would not call my family 'traditional Chinese.' We were more what I would term the Colonial Chinese. "
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Call
Chinese
Colonial
" When cultural movements happen, it's so beyond your control. "
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Control
Happen
Your
" My father grew up in a life of extreme privilege. "
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Up
Extreme
Father
" I go to Shenzhen, China, and am taken to a vast luxury spa with a hundred leather recliners and a hundred accompanying plasma screen televisions bolted to the ceiling. "
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Ceiling
Go
Leather
" I do believe that peoples' natures can be changed, and they have to be changed if we want to live in this modern world and be a part of it. "
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Modern
World
Want
" In Asia, it's customary to get together with your entire extended family on a regular basis, and it's all rife with politics. "
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Get Together
Together
Family
" Every family is a crazy family. "
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Family
Crazy
Every
" My grandparents were far more English in their manners than they were Chinese. For example, we spoke English at home, had afternoon tea every day, and my grandfather, who attended university in Scotland, would smoke his pipe after dinner. "
Kevin Kwan
Dinner
Tea
Smoke